AFI Fest: Der Nachtmahr

Kieran wrapping up myAFI Fest in Hollywood.

German visual artist turned filmmaker, Akiz’s Der Nachtmahr immediately announces its desire to confront its audience. The film begins with a super that warns about the strobe effect, which has been known to cause seizures (supposedly) in certain audience members. It then follows it up with a second super that cheekily reads “Anyway…”

For better or worse, Der Nachtmahr's opening scene certainly live up to its lurid promise as we follow high-schooler Tina (Carolyn Genzkow) and her group of friends at a rave party. Booming, assaultive techno music fills the diegesis as we watch Tina and her friends drink, do various drugs and night swim. The flashing, disorienting strobe light effect used in the party scenes is meant to mirror Tina’s fragile mental state, which starts its dramatic decline the night of the party. She begins to see a small, alien-like creature around her house, leading her parents and her friends to question her sanity. [More...]

Genzkow’s commitment to the conceit Der Nachtmahr is admirable and her performance does hit the high registers of intensity promised in the film’s preface (and by the director prior to the screening). This is especially commendable because she’s often only acting opposite figments of her character’s imagination. Unfortunately, the direction forces her into a lot of over-the-top theatrics without any real layering of backstory or character. The film's last act, which does involve Tina being more active and actually getting to do something does allow the performance to take on a more interesting tenor. Glimpses of a very compelling actress emerge and one can more easily imagine what Genzkow might bring to a character and a film with more heft.

It's hard not to wonder (especially during the opening rave scene) just how many times Akiz watched and admired Enter the Void, which is by no means a perfect film either. However, regardless of how one feels about Gaspar Noé’s film, it certainly commits to its premise and its cinematic chutzpah from first frame to last. Der Nachtmahr gives us scenes of Tina seeing the creature, which are pretty indistinguishable from each other in what they do narratively or how they call upon Genzkow to explode in Naomi Watts-level screaming fits. But then we might get an incredibly sedate five minute scene of Tina talking to her therapist who dispenses trite platitudes about “facing your fears”. This clashing of styles could be potentially interesting. In execution it just feels like Akiz is way more interested in the creature than he is in anything else. Any scenes where he can't lean on the shock of showing the audience the creature feel completely adrift.

Despite the film’s relatively short running time (88 minutes), the restlessness of the audience by the end was apparent, leading me to believe that there’s a very good short film to be salvaged here. As it is, Der Nachtmahr, despite how bold it may seem from the outset, seems to lack confidence. It’s telling its audience how shocking it is and asking for validation in the same way that Hugo tells its audience that its whimsical. In both cases, it's cause for suspicion.

Grade: C-